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GALLERY AND MUSEUM ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

The Gallery and Museum Achievement Awards are presented

by Museum and Gallery Services Queensland to honour the

achievements of Queensland individuals and organisations in

striving towards excellence.

The awards aim to:

• encourage continuous improvement and development of

galleries, museums and related cultural organisations

• enhance the profile of galleries, museums and related

cultural organisations in local and wider communities

• inspire and recognise best practice

• recognise and encourage the contribution made by

individuals to their organisations and to the gallery and

museum sector

THE GAMAA CATEGORIES:ORGANISATIONS

• STAFF OF 7 OR MORE *• STAFF OF UP TO 6 *• VOLUNTEER RUN

* Full-time equivalent

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THE GAMAA CATEGORIES:INDIVIDUALS

• PAID• VOLUNTEER

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ELIGIBILITY

1. Must be located within Queensland

2. Organisations must be one of the following:

• Public, non-commercial museum or gallery• Indigenous Keeping Place or Cultural Centre• Libraries where the nominated activity has an outcome related to

exhibitions or museum practice• Arts Councils where the nominated activity has an outcome related

to exhibitions or museum practice• Artist-Run Spaces where the nominated activity has an outcome

related to exhibitions or museum practice

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ELIGIBILITY

3. Individuals can be paid or volunteer staff working in any of the organisations listed

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ORGANISATIONS…

1. Can be self-nominated

2. Or nominated by another organisation (including local councils)

3. Or nominated by another person (including members of the public)

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ORGANISATIONS

The nominated activity must have been completed, or

have reached an identifiable or significant milestone,

within twelve months prior to the nomination closing date.

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ORGANISATIONS

Examples of activities that might be nominated:

Exhibitions Public programs

Education programs Research

Publications Events

Collection management Community building

Marketing initiatives Operational initiatives

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ORGANISATIONS

You can also nominate collaborative projects

between two or more organisations.

One organisation would take responsibility for the nomination and act as the contact. All participating organisations would be

acknowledged and promoted in GAMAA material.

In categories where prizes are awarded, the collaborating organisations would be

responsible for deciding any split.

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INDIVIDUALS…

1. Must be nominated by another person

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INDIVIDUALS

The nomination should demonstrate how the individual’s contribution meets the Award criteria.

The work of individual nominees may date back many years.

FOR ORGANISATIONS, THREE SELECTION CRITERIA MUST BE ADDRESSED

1. INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP2. OUTCOMES IN THE COMMUNITY3. BEST PRACTICE

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SELECTION CRITERIA 1:INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP

The nomination should provide evidence of the organisation’s creativity, originality, vision and leadership.

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Examples of innovative practice and leadership:

• Delivering a ground-breaking project to a successful outcome• Taking up new ideas or new technologies• Finding creative ways to improve access and equity for

audiences/participants• Finding creative ways to educate audiences and encourage life-

long learning• Working with communities or audiences that the organisation

has not worked with before• Creating partnerships that improve the organisation’s practice• Providing inspiration as a role model for others

• Leading others to implement new ideas, directions or initiatives

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A Winning Example2004 Winner in the category of Staff of 1 to 6: The Gold Coast City Art Gallery produced a two-part exhibition and series of events: All that Glitters…contemporary visions of the Gold Coast and All that Glitters…50 years of Gold Coast kitsch and memories. The project provided an opportunity for reflection and focus on the Gold Coast – one of the most rapidly evolving communities in Australia, and one that is perceived to produce little of cultural value. The exhibition showed the depth of critical and creative thinking and making that has occurred on the Gold Coast in the second half of the 20th century. The projects gave younger people and local residents an insight to the character of the place, and encouraged people to come forward with their memories and objects. The GAMAA judges found this project to be particularly innovative both in its curatorial approach and in its efforts to connect with a diverse local community. The exhibitions and associated events were well executed and successfully connected social history and contemporary visual art elements. In doing so they demonstrated the potential of a combined museum and gallery collection for the Gold Coast, providing a valuable model for how other communities might approach contemporary heritage and collecting.

SELECTION CRITERIA 2:OUTCOMES IN THE COMMUNITY

The nomination should provide evidence of how the organisation’s activity has enriched the community.

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Examples of outcomes in the community:“Community” can mean the general community in your region, or

can mean a specific group within the community (such as youth, older people, people from a particular cultural/ethnic background, people who are isolated or disadvantaged)

• Enriching the cultural life of the community• Increasing community participation or developing new

audiences• Delivering successful outcomes for specific groups in

the community• Having an impact on the social or economic life of the

community

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A Winning Example2006 Winner in the category of Staff of 1 to 6: The Fully Sick!!! Youth Public Art Project was developed by the Bundaberg Arts Centre to bring together several requests for mural projects from the community. The Centre engaged young people throughout Bundaberg in the project in a bid to develop better relations with youth audiences and to provide skills development for the youth and artists involved. They developed a number of significant partnerships for the project, ranging from a suburban progress association to organisations that were already actively engaging with youth communities such as juvenile crime prevention programs, Indigenous youth services and local visual arts high school students. The project attracted interest from the general population during the period that the artists and participants were working on site. The GAMAA judges recognised the Centre's achievement in working with youth beyond the walls of the gallery; for identifying a strategy that will develop future audiences; and for using community networks to find the right people for the project.

SELECTION CRITERIA 3:BEST PRACTICE

The nomination should provide evidence of how the organisation’s activity has established new standards of practice or significantly raised existing standards.

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Examples of best practice:

• Establishing new standards of practice that are able to be sustained by the organisation

• Significantly raising the organisation’s existing standards (new processes, systems, displays, programs)

• Increasing the organisation’s professionalism and quality of delivery

• Improving the skills/knowledge of staff and/or volunteers• Improving the organisation’s relationships with its major

stakeholders

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A Winning Example2005 Winner in the category of Volunteer Run: The Mulgrave Settlers Museum is open six days a week, is staffed by a team of 20 volunteers, and comprises an archival room, library, workroom, storage room and exhibitions area. The Museum introduced the concept of Significance to the assessment of its collections and uses the Significance statement when making decisions about accessioning new objects. The Museum developed extensive public programs with a series of annual changing exhibitions. One of these, Beacons of Faith – religious traditions of Gordonvale residents, was the first cross-cultural project of its kind initiated by a community museum in North Queensland. The exhibition encompassed the history of every religious and spiritual organisation in the Mulgrave area, such as the Chinese and Sikh communities and local Indigenous groups. The GAMAA judges commended the Museum as a model for other community based museums in Queensland. The Museum’s dedication to gathering the social history of the district, its well executed programs within the context of its limited resources, as well as its undertaking of difficult tasks such as the digitisation of the collection and the de-accessioning of non-relevant objects were acknowledged as a serious commitment to best practice.

FOR INDIVIDUALS, FOUR SELECTION CRITERIA MUST BE ADDRESSED

1. INNOVATION2. OUTCOMES IN THE

COMMUNITY3. BEST PRACTICE4. LEADERSHIP

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SELECTION CRITERIA 1:INNOVATION

The nomination should provide evidence of the person’s creativity, originality and vision.

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Examples of innovative practice:

• Delivering a ground-breaking project to a successful outcome

• Taking up new ideas or new technologies• Working with new communities, new audiences or

developing new partnerships to improve their practice• Finding creative ways to educate audiences and

encourage life-long learning

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A Winning Example2005 Winner in the category of Individual Paid Staff: Audrey Hoffmann was the Director of the Warwick Art Gallery. Audrey was a dynamic force in raising the Gallery’s relevance and reputation within the local community and within the cultural sector. Audrey led a team of forty-five volunteers and invested enormous effort in working with local artists and art groups, local government, and other sectors of the community to galvanise the Gallery’s impact within the region. She implemented innovative exhibition and public programs that resonated with a previously indifferent community and took artists’ work beyond the Gallery walls. Audrey’s inspiration and leadership raised the status of the Warwick Art Prize, and was instrumental to the success of Warwick’s festival, Jumpers and Jazz in July, with its outdoor textile art, textile workshops and jazz music. The GAMAA judges commented on Audrey’s innovative and dynamic approach to positioning the Gallery as a vibrant and relevant force within the community. At a time of amalgamation of local shires, Audrey introduced cultural programs and worked in partnership with other local groups to engender a sense of identity and belonging. Her leadership, dedication and drive were considered by the judges to make Audrey a worthy recipient of the award.

SELECTION CRITERIA 2:OUTCOMES IN THE COMMUNITY

The nomination should provide evidence of how the person has enriched the community.

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Examples of outcomes in the community:“Community” can mean the general community in your region, or

can mean a specific group within the community (such as youth, older people, people from a particular cultural/ethnic background, people who are isolated or disadvantaged)

• Enriching the cultural life of the community• Increasing community participation or developing new

audiences• Delivering successful outcomes for specific groups in

the community• Having an impact on the social or economic life of the

community

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A Winning Example2005 Winner in the category of Individual Volunteer: Patricia O’Connor is an Aboriginal Elder of the Yugambeh group and co-founder of Australia’s first Aboriginal language museum, The Yugembeh Museum – Language and Heritage Resource Centre in Beenleigh. In the face of perceptions that Patricia’s traditional language, the Yugam language, was lost Patricia initiated a campaign to gather language from the older men and women in her community, matched with research from public records, and from her own memories. The result was the collation of a number of dictionaries and a revitalisation of the language in the community in daily life. Patricia made significant contributions to the areas of museum studies, local history studies and Indigenous cultural heritage management over a twenty-year period. The GAMAA judges commented on Patricia’s remarkable achievement in giving language back to her community, and the impressive effort she sustained throughout the process. Patricia’s role as a leader and advocate within her community, her vision, integrity, and her encouragement of and inspiration to others were seen as worthy attributes for the award. The judges took into consideration Patricia’s significant contribution in a voluntary capacity over many years.

SELECTION CRITERIA 3:BEST PRACTICE

The nomination should provide evidence of how the person has established new standards of practice or significantly raised existing standards.

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Examples of best practice:The judges will be looking for the individual’s contribution above the

expectations of normal paid/voluntary employment.

• Establishing new standards of practice that can be sustained

• Significantly raising their own existing standards of practice• Increasing their own level of professionalism or that of their

organisation• Contributing to the improvement of skills/knowledge of staff

and/or volunteers• Contributing to improving their organisation’s relationships

with its major stakeholders

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A Winning Example2007 Winner in the category of Individual Volunteer: Joan Hubbard is the volunteer Coordinator of the Chinchilla White Gums Gallery. She has volunteered in this position since the Gallery was established in 1999 and under her leadership has recruited a team of 42 volunteers. Joan’s commitment to professional best practice saw her undertake a Certificate IV in Museum Practice, one of only eleven people in Queensland to have completed this accreditation. She undertook the course in her own time and financed it herself. Joan coordinates the annual exhibition program at the Gallery, supporting local artists to exhibit their work, programming touring exhibitions which strive to challenge and excite audiences, and developing the Gallery’s own touring exhibitions from works in the Chinchilla Shire Collection and local artists.

SELECTION CRITERIA 4:LEADERSHIP

The nomination should provide evidence of how the person provided inspiration and guidance to others

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Examples of leadership:

• Providing inspiration as a role model for others• Leading others to implement new ideas• Identifying new initiatives or new directions

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A Winning Example2006 joint Winner in the category of Individual Paid Staff: Lisa Jones is the Curator of the Queensland Police Museum. In addition to her work with the Museum, Lisa has demonstrated her considerable leadership qualities and made an important contribution to the museum and gallery industry in Queensland through her voluntary work on numerous committees. Lisa was the Chair of Brisbane's Living Heritage Network for four years; she is the Company Secretary for Museum & Gallery Services Queensland; she is current President of Museums Australia (Queensland) including sitting on the National Council of Museums Australia and fulfilling the role of Conference Convenor for the 2006 Museums Australia National Conference. Lisa contributed greatly to training and professional development programs for Queensland museum and gallery workers and volunteers — performing the role of assessor for museum studies certificate courses throughout Queensland, developing assessment tools and often travelling to regional and remote areas for student evaluations. She also acted as a peer reviewer for a Standards Pilot Program recently introduced in Queensland. The GAMAA judges emphasised Lisa's impressive contribution to the Queensland museum and gallery sector through her leadership and outward-looking approach.

TIPS

How to maximise the success of your GAMAA nomination

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SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION ON THE FORM PROVIDED

You don’t have much space,

so use it wisely.

Try to give as much information as you can fit in – but make it clear and directly

relevant to the nomination.

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FOR ORGANISATIONS, DECIDE ON THE ACTIVITY TO BE NOMINATED

You might choose a particular project, exhibition, event, publication etc. to nominate, rather than nominate the

organisation as a whole.

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An activity, program or project generally has a specific time frame and an identifiable

outcome which often can be more easily assessed for its level of success.

Trying to demonstrate the success of a whole organisation with its many and varied activities

can be harder to do in a limited space, and more difficult to assess for its achievements.

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However, there are no restrictions on what an organisation might nominate, so choose the thing that most strongly addresses the

selection criteria.

You may feel that the whole of your organisation’s operations does that.

Ensure that your nomination gives clear examples of the nature of the achievement.

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ADDRESS EACH OF THE

SELECTION CRITERIA

Your nomination may be stronger in some criteria than others, but try hard to demonstrate achievement in every

criteria.

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“DEMONSTRATE” THE

CLAIMS BEING MADE

You should try not to make general claims such as “Judy is a wonderful leader”.

Instead you should demonstrate how her leadership achieves high standards and what that means for her colleagues, the

organisation, the community etc. This can be achieved by providing facts, examples

and good support material.

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CHOOSE YOUR SUPPORT

MATERIAL CAREFULLY

Support material must not exceed 6 items.

The material should enhance your written nomination by giving extra information or backing up the claims you have made.

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• If one of the items you have supplied is a 3-hour DVD or video, the judges will not have time to watch it all. You would be better to choose one or two excerpts of no more than 10 minutes’ duration.

• If you are supplying media clippings, each clipping counts as 1 piece of support material, so don’t send two or three that say the same thing. Choose the best.

• The judges will not have time to read large publications (including educational kits etc), so mark particular sections you might want them to see.

• You can send a written referee’s report as one of the items. It should add to what your nomination says, not simply repeat the same information.

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Where possible, support material should be provided electronically on a CD/DVD posted with the nomination

form. This might include scans of media clippings, photographs, word documents etc. This helps us to

streamline the process by providing the judges with some of the support material prior to judging day.

Obviously, hard copies of items such as publications, business plans, merchandise etc. cannot be sent to each

judge, and will be viewed by them on judging day.

Your nomination will not be disadvantaged if you cannot supply the material electronically.

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GET SOMEONE ELSE TO

READ YOUR NOMINATION

Ask someone who is not familiar with the activity or the individual to read your

nomination and tell you if the information is clear, comprehensive and answers the criteria

in a strong and positive way. They can also help check spelling and grammar.

JUDGING

Who are the judges and what are they looking for?

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The judging panel changes from year to year.

It comprises six to seven members from across the sector, representing museums and

galleries, large and small, regional and metropolitan. There is usually at least one

person from an associated industry (eg tourism), and usually one person from

interstate with experience in similar awards programs.

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The judges choose a Winner in each of the five categories (3 organisations and 2 individuals).

The judges may also award Special Commendations in each of the five categories. There is no limit to how many Commendations are awarded.

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What are the judges looking for?

Nominations which:

• Are strong in all of the selection criteria

• Demonstrate significant outcomes commensurate with the resources available

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How can you help the judges in their difficult task?

• Ensure your nomination is clearly written, with a direct focus on the activity or individual being nominated

• Address all of the selection criteria as strongly as possible• Send good support material which gives extra information

or helps to demonstrate the claims being made• Complete the form correctly, including providing referee

details and the correct number of items of support material

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Organisations should make sure to provide all of the information requested.

The judges will assess the outcomes of your activity against the available resources for

your project (budget, the number of staff/volunteers working on the project,

services/support available in your region)

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This means that bigger

is not necessarily better.

If you had very limited resources but achieved an outcome that was substantial for your organisation, then your nomination will

compete very well against organisations who had bigger budgets, more staff/volunteers, etc.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

What does winning a GAMAA mean?

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The Prizes:

The winners in each of the five categories receive a specially commissioned trophy by a Queensland designer. The trophies are by a different designer each year.

All winners and special commendation recipients receive an Award certificate.

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• The winner of the category, Organisations: Staff of up to 6, receives a $1,000 cash prize.

• The winner of the category, Organisations: Volunteer, receives a $1,000 cash prize.

• The winner of the category, Individuals Paid, receives $1,000 of goods/services.

• The winner of the category, Individuals Volunteer, receives $1,000 of goods/services.

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M&GSQ covers travel expenses for all winners and commendation recipients to attend the Awards presentation evening.

The 2008 Awards presentation will be hosted by the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, South Bank, Brisbane on Thursday, 30 October 2008.

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M&GSQ undertakes extensive media coverage for all winners and commendation recipients, particularly within the winners’ regions.

M&GSQ also publishes major articles on award recipients in its publications.

Many GAMAA winners have experienced flow-on benefits such as improved profile within their regions and with stakeholders such as local government, funding bodies, sponsors.

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So start preparing your 2008 nomination!CLOSING DATE 28 AUGUST 2008

M&GSQ staff are on hand to help if you have any questions about eligibility, selection criteria, how to fill out forms, etc.

Phone 07 3215 0820 or

freecall within Queensland 1800 680 433

Or email information@magsq.com.au

2008 GAMAA nomination forms can be downloaded as a PDF or Word document from Museum and Gallery Services Queensland’s website

www.magsq.com.au

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GALLERY AND MUSEUM ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS